PLB 0-06-027619-3 paper 0-06-446723-6 This entry in the MathStart series investigates the concepts of calendar time through the events of a kitten’s first year. Lisa’s agreeable, first-person journal keeps track of important dates—the birth of the litter at Grandma’s, Lisa and younger brother Joey’s first visit to the week-old kittens, permission to keep a newborn kitten when it is ready to leave its mother, selecting and naming a kitten at when it is one-month-old, taking Pepper home at two months, and so on to Pepper’s first birthday. These milestones appear in attractively busy spreads that show the progression of Lisa’s family life on the left and Lisa’s journal of Pepper’s progress on the right. Many scenes will provoke smiles: Thanksgiving in November finds Pepper under the family’s table, tugging at an eight-month-old cousin’s blanket, while Lisa’s journal drawings show her reading Pepper his favorite book, Puss in Boots, as he rests on her quilt. The recurring monthly calendar highlights important dates; in this well-done book, readers also learn harder facts about what a growing cat needs and does—integral, everyday, and useful information presented in a way that reinforces notions about the passing of time as well as the functions of a calendar. (Picture book. 6-9)
Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2000
ISBN: 0-06-027618-5
Page Count: 40
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Lunge-Larsen and Preus debut with this story of a flower that blooms for the first time to commemorate the uncommon courage of a girl who saves her people from illness. The girl, an Ojibwe of the northern woodlands, knows she must journey to the next village to get the healing herb, mash-ki- ki, for her people, who have all fallen ill. After lining her moccasins with rabbit fur, she braves a raging snowstorm and crosses a dark frozen lake to reach the village. Then, rather than wait for morning, she sets out for home while the villagers sleep. When she loses her moccasins in the deep snow, her bare feet are cut by icy shards, and bleed with every step until she reaches her home. The next spring beautiful lady slippers bloom from the place where her moccasins were lost, and from every spot her injured feet touched. Drawing on Ojibwe sources, the authors of this fluid retelling have peppered the tale with native words and have used traditional elements, e.g., giving voice to the forces of nature. The accompanying watercolors, with flowing lines, jewel tones, and decorative motifs, give stately credence to the story’s iconic aspects. (Picture book/folklore. 4-8)
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-395-90512-5
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
This vibrant, thoughtful book from Katz (Over the Moon, 1997) continues her tribute to her adopted daughter, Lena, born in Guatemala. Lena is “seven. I am the color of cinnamon. Mom says she could eat me up”; she learns during a painting lesson that to get the color brown, she will have to “mix red, yellow, black, and white paints.” They go for a walk to observe the many shades of brown: they see Sonia, who is the color of creamy peanut butter; Isabella, who is chocolate brown; Lucy, both peachy and tan; Jo-Jin, the color of honey; Kyle, “like leaves in fall”; Mr. Pellegrino, the color of pizza crust, golden brown. Lena realizes that every shade is beautiful, then mixes her paints accordingly for portraits of her friends—“The colors of us!” Bold illustrations celebrate diversity with a child’s open-hearted sensibility and a mother’s love. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8050-5864-8
Page Count: 28
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
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